Just saw this in the new issue. Worth a peek.
Smoking, No, Nicotine, Maybe
The diminishing returns of the anti-tobacco campaign
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articl...42.html?page=1
"A growing body of research, however, reveals that the shun-tobacco-or-die dichotomy is an oversimplification. In fact, there’s significant evidence that the act of inhaling burning plant matter does much of the harm while the addictive substance in question (nicotine) and the plant itself (tobacco) are a mixed bag. Public health policy may be better served by a harm reduction strategy that continues efforts to discourage smoking while trying to steer tobacco and nicotine users towards safer forms of the substances."
...
"Despite the manifest harm of cigarette smoking, it’s surprisingly hard to find strong evidence linking nicotine or tobacco per se to serious negative health outcomes. Certain formulations of smokeless tobacco, particularly Swedish-style snuff, snus, that’s held under the lip rather than chewed, appear to produce cancer rates only a bit higher than those in the population as a whole. (Other forms of smokeless tobacco—mostly forms consumed outside of the United States—can be nearly as bad as cigarettes.) To be sure, tobacco isn’t a health food and its repeated use in any common form will probably increase cancer prevalence somewhat. But it’s pretty clear that the way one consumes tobacco matters a lot."
Smoking, No, Nicotine, Maybe
The diminishing returns of the anti-tobacco campaign
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articl...42.html?page=1
"A growing body of research, however, reveals that the shun-tobacco-or-die dichotomy is an oversimplification. In fact, there’s significant evidence that the act of inhaling burning plant matter does much of the harm while the addictive substance in question (nicotine) and the plant itself (tobacco) are a mixed bag. Public health policy may be better served by a harm reduction strategy that continues efforts to discourage smoking while trying to steer tobacco and nicotine users towards safer forms of the substances."
...
"Despite the manifest harm of cigarette smoking, it’s surprisingly hard to find strong evidence linking nicotine or tobacco per se to serious negative health outcomes. Certain formulations of smokeless tobacco, particularly Swedish-style snuff, snus, that’s held under the lip rather than chewed, appear to produce cancer rates only a bit higher than those in the population as a whole. (Other forms of smokeless tobacco—mostly forms consumed outside of the United States—can be nearly as bad as cigarettes.) To be sure, tobacco isn’t a health food and its repeated use in any common form will probably increase cancer prevalence somewhat. But it’s pretty clear that the way one consumes tobacco matters a lot."
